When a man in Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, England, set out to build a deck in his back garden, he uncovered a mystery. As John Brayshaw, 40, began digging post holes, he unearthed an automobile buried on its side. “I thought it was an old air raid shelter at first, then I saw the roof,” Brayshaw said. “Then I kept digging and saw the door, the steering wheel, and realized it was a full car, complete with the registration plate. The only thing that was missing was the wheels.” Brayshaw, who has owned the home for six months, believes the 1955 Ford predates the previous owners, who resided in the home 50 years.
Discovery
In B.C., Canada, friends Callum Gow, Josh Grossman and Carson Schiefner — all in their early 20s — decided a hike away from heavily traveled trails near Alouette Lake would be a good way to maintain social distance. There have long been rumors of a stash of gold hidden in the area. But the treasure they discovered was completely different: a secret camp, including supplies, that hadn’t been touched for almost 30 years. “It was almost like one of those time capsules you run into,” Schiefner said. The hikers found sealed boxes, a radio, a Coleman stove, first aid supplies, a knife, tobacco and a big roll of toilet paper. A log book revealed the camp had been used from 1986 until 1991. Through social media, the hikers managed to find some of the original campers, including Rick Senft. He explained that a group of friends calling themselves the B.C. Weirdness Federation set up the camp, but “life gets in the way” and they gathered there less and less. “They’re probably some of the best years I had,” he reminisced.
The Continuing Crisis
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a home in Saugus, Calif., after a dispute over toilet paper turned violent. A 26-year-old man was arrested and charged with battery after his mother told deputies he had punched her. Sheriff’s department spokesperson Shirley Miller said the man had accused his mother of hiding toilet paper, which she admitted to deputies, saying her son was using too much. “This is the first arrest I’ve heard of that started out over an argument over toilet paper,” remarked Miller.
Man Busted For Taking Pet Fish For A Walk
In Logrono, Spain, a man pushed the envelope on Spain’s stringent lockdown rules, which make an exception for pet owners, who are allowed to go outside briefly with their pets. The National Police Tweeted a photo of the man being arrested for sitting on a city bench holding his pet fish in its fish bowl.
Priorities
As tornadoes bore down on the Southeast, a family sought safety in a storm shelter in Crossville, Ala. But said they were turned away because they had only one face mask. A woman in the family said a man who opened the door to the shelter asked if they had masks. “I said I have one mask,” the woman said. “He motioned no and shut the door.” The family ran back to their car and looked for shelter elsewhere. Crossville Mayor Tera Fortenberry had posted the face coverings requirement on Facebook, but the family didn’t see the message. After the story became public, masks were donated to the town anonymously.
Inexplicable
— Davis, Calif., resident Shaun Lamar Moore, was arrested and charged with burglary after allegedly stealing a specimen that was waiting to be tested for COVID-19 from the Sutter Davis Hospital. Police were alerted that a sealed COVID-19 specimen was found in a shopping cart at a nearby CVS store. Police Deputy Chief Paul Doroshov said the specimen “hadn’t been opened or tampered with based on the security seals … Although the incident is very serious, detectives do not believe (Moore) intended to harm himself or others,” he added.
— Kevin Fallon, of New York City, reportedly sent warnings to friends and family that he intended to blow up a bronze statue in Central Park that depicted characters from Alice in Wonderland. He allegedly followed up with photos of a pipe bomb and ammunition, along with these threats: “This is going to hurt. None of you are safe. I am lethal.” At his mother’s request, the NYPD conducted a wellness check at his apartment that day and found three bombs, ammunition and knives that had been taped together, authorities said. The bombs were found to be nonfunctional, and later that day, Fallon was found at a hotel in the city, where he was taken into custody and charged with making a terroristic threat.
Ewwwww
A new study has found the presence of a parasitic worm called Anisakis, or herring worm, in raw or undercooked seafood has increased 283-fold since the 1970s. Study co-author Chelsea Wood, assistant professor in the University of Washington’s School of Aquatic and Fishery Sciences, said most people who’ve eaten the worms think they have food poisoning. The symptoms are much the same. They disappear in a few days. The worms can reach 0.8 inches in length and are visible to the naked eye, Wood noted. While fish processors and sushi chefs are adept at removing the worms, she suggested cutting sushi in half and inspecting each piece if you’re concerned.
Not What It Looks Like
In Bowling Green, Ken., Mayor Bruce Wilkerson was hard at work on a house he has been renovating when he smelled cigarette smoke and “heard a ruckus” outside, so he went to investigate. The former police officer found blood on the cellar door and a bag containing women’s clothing inside, but after determining there were no reports of missing women in the area, he went back to his work. Later, the electricity suddenly went out, so he returned to the cellar. This time, he found a young woman. “She said, ‘I’m hiding from someone,’” Wilkerson told police, then she ran away. Police haven’t identified her, but Wilkerson wanted to set the record straight before “a story would come out that I had a lady locked up in my cellar.”
Irony
The National Weather Service issued a dust advisory in eastern Washington after wind gusts of more than 40 mph kicked up a wall of sediment. “We have had reports of blowing dust near Dusty [the real name of the town] on SR 26 and SR 127,” the NWS tweeted. The Washington State Patrol reported that SR 26 was “fully blocked” about 3 miles outside of Dusty after a car and a semi-truck crashed. The highway remained closed for about six hours.
Least Competent Criminal
Furquan Muhammad, 22, started his very bad encounter with law enforcement when he sped off after being pulled over in Monroe County, Ga., for not having a license tag. Georgia State Patrol spokesperson Lt. Stephanie Stallings said that as the car sped by, troopers saw “there were other passengers in the fleeing vehicle that appeared to be children.” The chase went on through four counties, until Muhammad crashed into a state trooper’s car. This caused a chain reaction involving four police vehicles and injuring two troopers. Along with Muhammad in the car, deputies said they found four children (ranging in age from 9 weeks to 15 years old), marijuana, Xanax pills, a firearm and $2,000 in cash. Muhammad was arrested on multiple charges.
Quick Thinking
Eliza Ruth Watson raises chickens in Gray, Maine. So she’s used to seeing foxes nosing around. But as she worked in her garden on April 23, the fox she spotted didn’t run when she tried to scare it off by hollering and waving her arms. Instead, the animal lunged toward her, ready to attack. “Thinking back on it now, the fox was a mangy, stanky fox,” Watson told the Sun Journal. She responded by kicking it, but “it kept coming back, and I kept kicking it.” Finally Watson grabbed the fox around the neck, and as it fought back, she shoved it into a large pot used for scalding chickens, sealed the lid and called 911 and her husband. At the hospital, she received five rabies vaccine injections. “People kept asking, ‘Are you the one who wrestled the fox?’” she said. “It’s certainly not how I expected to spend my day.”
Zoom Follies: Part I
ABC News reporter Will Reeve made an internet meme come to life when he appeared on Good Morning America to report on pharmacies using drones to deliver prescriptions. Looking dapper in a sports coat and open-collared shirt, Reeve no doubt thought this get-up would camouflage the fact that he wasn’t wearing pants. That wasn’t the case, and Twitter had a field day. Reeve himself Tweeted, “I have ARRIVED … in the most hilariously mortifying way possible.”
Zoom Follies: Part II
A videoconference meeting of the Vallejo, Calif., planning commission got a little weird when commissioner Chris Platzer announced, “I’d like to introduce my cat,” then was seen throwing the cat off-screen. Later Platzer was seen drinking a beer. After the meeting ended, city staff could hear him making derogatory remarks about the commission. In a later email, Platzer apologized for his actions and said he has resigned from the commission. “We are all living in uncertain times, and I certainly, like many of you, am adjusting to a new normalcy,” he wrote.
Mayor Bob Sampayan said he was bothered by Platzer’s “whole demeanor during the entire meeting.”
Comments are closed.